Please Note: Racing will be for Members Only – there will be no Visitors allowed for the Wheel Race.

IMG Online Registration

In order to register on-line for next year, you will need to use your IMG logon and password that you used last year.

If you have forgotten your password, there is a password recovery option. Enter your Email address and click Submit. Once a quick validation process has been completed, your new password will be emailed to you.

Committee for Next Year

The Annual General Meeting of the ACTVets will be held on the 24th February 2014. We are always looking for new committee members so if you are interested, please consider nominating for next year’s committee.

Help Needed on Sunday: Peter will need 2 turn marshals and a couple of finish line helpers. Anyone who can assist please let Peter know before the weekend.

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 26th November

It was one of those glorious Canberra spring evenings that make you glad you’re alive, unless of course you’re an English cricket supporter.

The G grade bunch split in half as the pressure was applied with two laps to go but at the bell most of the field was back together and jockeying for the rails run. Seven riders were locked together at the final turn with Angelika Mauch closing out a hard fought sprint from Chris Toohey and Jing Huang.

F grade was a torrid affair with an early breakaway by John Ignatius cutting the small talk in the bunch. Sherif Naklha then went off the front but the big trade teams clicked into gear to bring everyone back . The trio of Nakhla, Ignatius and Fergus Nelson sneaked a gap on the last lap and finished in that order. In E grade the big bunch stayed together for most of the race, with two going off the front on the bell lap. John Wilson stayed away for a well deserved victory. Baden White, showing the benefits of a secret training camp in France earlier in the season, stormed into second, edging Brendan Chadwick.

There was a slight kerfuffle at the start of C/D grade as a mob of kangaroos tried to gain entry to the venue without valid tickets. Security chief James Meredith brusquely showed them the door and the race got underway. C grade featured plenty of attacks with Ian Langstaff doing most of the damage and eventually claiming second place as Chris Konn demonstrated his sprinting prowess for the blue ribbon while Steve Schwenke was third. The D graders held fire until the final few laps when the attacks came thick and fast. Andrew Tully was too strong at the finish for Roger Wheatley and Glenn Williams.

In A grade Mark Harris, David Rae, Michael Tolhurst and Jonathon Drury showed how effective a smooth- pedalling chaingang can be, with a mid-race breakaway that held off the bunch until the finish. Harris first, Rae second and Tolhurst rounding out the podium. In B grade, Allan Bontjer and a couple of co-conspirators, much like a bit of gravel inside a boot, irritated the rest of the bunch with big surges whenever the race started to resemble a scenic tour. In the end the sprinters prevailed, with Robert Langridge ahead of the appropriately-named Bruce Goodspeed, followed by Wayne Spratford.

The race referee provided those trackside with endless entertainment as he struggled to come to grips wth the Rubic Cube-esque time board, at one stage actually adding several minutes to the race as a bewildered A grade bunch passed by.

“It’s an intelligence test” chief steward Henry observed drily.

Many thanks to the aforementioned Mr Beaverstock, James, Reinhard , Andre and all the behind-the-scenes helpers who make this such an enjoyable club.

Thanks to Mick Donaldson for Race Refereeing

Track Racing – 28th November

Lookout Hill Championship – 1st December

The first day of summer, and the air was not, as likely to be expected, full of the sound of leather on willow, but rather the sound of cleats being clipped into pedals. A good sized field of 59 turned up to contest the club championships at Lookout Hill all secretly hoping for "gold gold gold" (to borrow a phrase from Norman May).

The "young 'uns" (ie. those 54 and under) were taking on a course of down to Point Hutt, up over Mt Tennant and out to Apollo Road and then returning to Point Hutt to finish at Lookout Hill. First away was the small field of 3 "really young ones" - ie. the under 40's and soon David Rae and Rohan McMurray stamped their authority on the event and broke away to contest a 1-2 finish.

The biggest field of the day was the men's 40-44. The 12 riders had the pedal down from the get go, with the club Vice President muttering something about "80kph down towards Point Hutt on the way out ..." and quickly broke up. The highly fancied Steve Crispin (I wonder what the odds on him winning were) took the win from Ash Carrauthers and Rohan Verco.

A small field of 5 men in the 45-49 age group were led home by surely "the tallest man in Vets cycling", Brendan Byatt. Tom Hartley was a good second with a possibly somewhat surprised Henry Thomson pipping Jason Parkes for 3rd.

Masters 5 had a good sized field of 11 with some well-credentialed riders, including a Cav'

lookalike in his skinsuit ... In the end it was the strong man of the grade, Mark Gillett who won the sprint ahead of Howard "what do you mean there's no huge hill" Galloway (a man not renowned for his big sprint finish) and David Dickson.

The more "mature" riders and women did 2 laps of Lookout Hill, Tharwa village, Point Hutt and back to Lookout Hill.

A very elite (I have to say that as it included the Club President) of 3 broke away early in Masters

6 and stayed away until the finish. Did Mark Taylor and Kev Hennessey "do the right thing" and let the Pres win? Probably not - Rob had the legs coming up to the finish to edge away from Mark and Kev for the win.

The club's elder statesmen (Masters 7 and 8) were battling their own little races to the finish, with Ian Albrey getting the better of Graham Hendrie in the 7's and Jeff Culnane nicking the win against Bruce Jones and Bernie Crowe in the 8's.

The eight women across the various age groups rode off together. The bunch soon broke apart as newcomer (and visitor - fortunately for the other riders as she unfortunately couldn't medal) Gay Bourke seemed to take the advice proffered on the start line of "... new riders sit on the front all day ..." and rode away with Jessica Baird to soon open up a big break from the other riders - break that got bigger and bigger by the kilometre. Ally Roche and Linda Stals were left chasing ahead of Mary Lovett, Barb Bayliss, Angie Wren and Antonina Bolschelarski who formed a little group who rode to the finish together.

To maintain the "never ask a lady her age" moral, in the final washup, Jessica won her grade, while Ally edged out Linda in their grade ahead of Angie. Mary then had the fast legs to get the better of Barb and Antonina.

A great day for racing - good weather (cloud cover and virtually no wind and a temperature in the high teens/low 20s') and no accidents.\

Many thanks to the people who enabled the race to happen, marshals, Ash Sked, Clair Albury, Frank O'Sullivan, Charles Nicol, Trent Wiseman, Owain Tilley and Sue Powell and of course the club faithfuls of Henry, James and Graham for bringing the van, doing rego etc.